Daily Telegraph: Iran is deploying assassination squads in Iraq to silence its critics
Friday, November 30
Alsumaria News / Baghdad
newspaper "Daily Telegraph", Aljamaah report quotes British security officials as saying that Tehran 's use of assassinations to silence its critics teams, amid what it called Iranian attempts to interfere in the affairs of the new Iraqi government.
The report, written by the defense editor of the newspaper, Koon Koglin, said the teams were deployed on orders from Qasim Soleimani, commander of the Quds Forceof the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, in an attempt to terrorize Iran 's opponents in Iraq .
He added that the deployment of these teams was in the wake of the general elections in Iraq in May, after Tehran's attempts to impose influence in the formation of the new Iraqi government was hampered by the failure of candidates who supported them in winning enough votes to form a government.
The report quoted British security officials providing support and military training to the Iraqi armed forces as saying that Iran had responded by sending a number of death squads from the Qods Force to silence Iraqi voices critical of Iran.
According to the report, one of the most prominent victims of these teams so far was Adel Shaker Tamimi, a close ally of former Prime Minister Haider Abadi, who was assassinated by the Quds Force in September, according to the report.
Al-Tamimi, a 46-year-old Shiite politician with dual Iraqi and Kurdish citizenship, describes the report as part of Baghdad's attempts to heal the rift between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. He also served as an envoy, albeit without a high degree, in restoring and improving relations with neighboring countries such as Jordan And Saudi Arabia.
The report points out that "Iranian assassination teams" targeted opponents from various political spectrum in Iraq, according to the same security sources.
The report, for example, hits another victim, Shawqi al-Haddad, who calls him a close associate of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has been receiving Tehran's support but has recently taken a more nationalist approach.
The report states that Al-Haddad was killed in July after accusing Iran of interfering in the rigging of the Iraqi elections.
The report also speaks of a botched assassination attempt in August by Radi Taei, whom he describes as an adviser to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leading Shiite cleric in Iraq, following Radhi's call to limit Iranian influence in the new government.
"Iran has intensified its campaign to terrorize the Iraqi government by using assassination squads to silence Tehran critics," the report quoted a senior British security official as saying. "It is a shameless attempt to thwart efforts by the new Iraqi government to end Iranian interference in Iraq."
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